A Little Hatred
A Little Hatred'' is the first novel in The Age of Madness Trillogy, and Joe Abercrombie's second trilogy set in the same world. It was published on 17 September 2019 by Gollancz in the UK, with an American edition from Pyr Books. Publisher's Synopsis The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal’s son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specialises in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta – socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in The Union – plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another… Characters Point-of-View Characters * Rikke * Crown Prince Orso * Savine dan Glokta * Vick dan Teufel * Gunnar Broad * Jonas Clover * Leo dan Brock Other Influential Characters * Isern-i-Phail * King Jezal the First * Zuri * Tallow * May Broad * Stour Nightfall * Finree dan Brock * The Dogman * Bremer dan Gorst * Arch Lector Glokta * Caul Shivers * Bayaz * Black Calder * Jurand Full List of Characters: Notable Persons of the Union * His August Majesty Jezal the First – High King of the Union. * Her August Majesty Terez – High Queen of the Union. * Crown Prince Orso (POV) – King Jezal and Queen Terez’s eldest and only son, heir to the throne and notorious wastrel. * Hildi – the crown prince’s valet and errand girl, previously a brothel laundress. * Tunny – once Corporal Tunny, now Crown Prince Orso’s pimp and carousing partner. * Yolk – Tunny’s idiot sidekick. * Arch Lector Sand dan Glokta – ‘Old Sticks’, the most feared man in the Union, head of the Closed Council and His Majesty’s Inquisition. * Superior Pike – Arch Lector Glokta’s right-hand man, with a hideously burned visage. * Lord Chamberlain Hoff – self-important chief courtier, son of the previous Lord Hoff. * Lord Chancellor Gorodets – long-suffering holder of the Union’s purse-strings. * Lord Marshal Brint – senior soldier and one-armed old friend of King Jezal. * Lord Marshal Rucksted – senior soldier with a penchant for beards and tall tales, married to Tilde dan Rucksted. * Colonel Forest – a hard-working officer with common origins and impressive scars. * Bremer dan Gorst – King Jezal’s squeaky-voiced First Guard, and master swordsman. * Lord Isher – a smooth and successful magnate of the Open Council. * Lord Barezin – a buffoonish magnate of the Open Council. * Lord Heugen – a pedantic magnate of the Open Council. In the Circle of Savine dan Glokta * Savine dan Glokta (POV) – daughter of Arch Lector Sand dan Glokta and Ardee dan Glokta, investor, socialite, celebrated beauty and founder of the Solar Society with Honrig Curnsbick. * Zuri – Savine’s peerless lady’s companion, a Southern refugee. * Lisbit – Savine’s rosy-cheeked face-maid. * Freid – one of Savine’s many wardrobe maids. * Metello – Savine’s hatchet-faced Styrian wig expert. * Ardee dan Glokta – Savine’s famously sharp-tongued mother. * Haroon – Zuri’s heavily built brother. * Rabik – Zuri’s slight and handsome brother. * Honrig Curnsbick – ‘The Great Machinist’, famous inventor and industrialist, and founder of the Solar Society with Savine dan Glokta. * Dietam dan Kort – a noted engineer and bridge-builder, losing money on a canal. * Selest dan Heugen – an admirer and potential rival of Savine’s. * Kaspar dan Arinhorm – an abrasive expert in pumping water from mines. * Tilde dan Rucksted – the blabbermouth wife of Lord Marshal Rucksted. * Spillion Sworbreck – a writer of cheap fantasies. * Majir – an underworld figure, owing Savine money. * Colonel Vallimir – a failed soldier, now a junior partner of Savine. * Lady Vallimir – Colonel Vallimir’s tasteless wife. * Superior Risinau – the sweaty-palmed head of Valbeck’s Inquisition. * Lord Parmhalt – the somnambulant Mayor of Valbeck. With the Breakers * Victarine dan Teufel (POV) – an ex-convict, daughter of a disgraced Master of the Mints, now striking a blow for the common man. * Collem Sibalt – leader of a cell of Breakers. * Tallow – a skinny young Breaker with a tragic face. * Grise – a Breaker with hard language and soft features. * Moor – a deep-voiced Breaker. * Gunnar ‘Bull’ Broad (POV) – an ex-Ladderman wrestling with violent tendencies, just returned from the wars in Styria, married to Liddy Broad, father of May Broad. * Liddy Broad – Gunnar Broad’s long-suffering wife, mother to May Broad. * May Broad – Gunnar and Liddy Broad’s hard-headed daughter. * Sarlby – an old comrade-in-arms of Gunnar Broad, now working in a brewery. * Malmer – foreman of the brewery, a leader of the Breakers. * Judge – an unhinged lunatic, the leader of the Burners. In the North * Scale Ironhand – King of the Northmen. Brother to Black Calder and uncle to Stour Nightfall. Once a great warrior and war leader, now … not. * Black Calder – Scale Ironhand’s cunning brother, father to Stour Nightfall, and the real power in the North. * Stour Nightfall – ‘The Great Wolf’, Calder’s son, the king-in-waiting, heir to the North and famed warrior and arsehole. * Magweer – one of Stour Ironhand’s Named Men, carries a lot of axes. * Greenway – one of Stour Ironhand’s Named Men, expert sneerer. * Jonas Clover (POV) – once Jonas Steepfield and reckoned a famous warrior, now thought of as a disloyal do-nothing. * Wonderful – second to Black Calder, a Named Woman with a dry sense of humour. * Gregun Hollowhead – a Chieftain of the West Valleys, father of the Nail. * The Nail – Gregun Hollowhead’s son, a formidable warrior. In the Protectorate * The Dogman – Chieftain of Uffrith and famous war leader, father of Rikke. * Rikke (POV) – the Dogman’s fit-prone daughter, blessed, or cursed, with the Long Eye. * Isern-i-Phail – a half-mad hillwoman, said to know all the ways. * Caul Shivers – a much-feared Named Man with a metal eye. * Red-Hat – one of the Dogman’s War Chiefs, known for his red hood. * Oxel – one of the Dogman’s War Chiefs, known for his poor manners. * Hardbread – one of the Dogman’s War Chiefs, known for his indecision. From Angland * Finree dan Brock – interim Lady Governor of Angland and a superb organiser. * Leo dan Brock (POV) – ‘The Young Lion’, Finree dan Brock’s son, Lord Governor in waiting, and a bold but reckless warrior. * Jurand – Leo dan Brock’s best friend, sensitive and thoughtful. * Glaward – Leo dan Brock’s exceptionally large friend. * Antaup – Leo dan Brock’s friend, renowned as a lady’s man. * Barniva – Leo dan Brock’s friend, equivocal about war. * Whitewater Jin – Leo dan Brock’s friend, a jovial Northman. * Ritter – Leo dan Brock’s friend, easily led and with a weak-chinned wife. * Lord Mustred – an old worthy of Angland, with a beard but no moustache. * Lord Clensher – an old worthy of Angland, with a moustache but no beard. The Order of Magi * Bayaz – First of the Magi, legendary wizard, saviour of the Union and founder member of the Closed Council. * Yoru Sulfur – former apprentice to Bayaz, nondescript but for his different-coloured eyes. * The Prophet Khalul – former Second of the Magi, now arch-enemy of Bayaz. Rumoured to have been killed by a demon, plunging the South into chaos. * Cawneil – Third of the Magi, about her own inscrutable business. * Zacharus – Fourth of the Magi, guiding the affairs of the Old Empire. Plot Summary A Little Hatred ''takes place fifteen years after the events in ''Red Country, twenty-eight years after the end of the original trilogy. It follows the interweaving stories of seven characters, with the action taking place for the most part in The North and Midderland. Up in The North, a new generation of warriors led by Calder's son, Stour Nightfall, seek once again to expel The Union, not only from The Protectorate, but perhaps from Angland as well. In their way stands Leo dan Brock, his formidable mother Finree, and The Dogman, but their efforts are hampered by the lack of support from the crown. Among this carnage, The Dogman's daughter, Rikke, struggles to understand and control the Long Eye, which gives her glimpses of the future, with her only help coming from the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail. The war culminates in the Battle of Red Hill, where both sides lay their separate traps, but the fighting ultimately ends in a stalemate. Like two heroes in a storybook, Leo and Stour agree to settle the matter with a duel in the circle, which Leo wins thanks to Stour’s showing off and Rikke’s Long Eye. After their brush with death, both men seem more thoughtful. The Young Lion tries to befriend Stour hoping to secure a lasting peace with The North, and seems to succeed. For his part, the Great Wolf concludes that he doesn’t want to be the king-in-waiting anymore. He kills his uncle to claim Bethod’s chain, much to the consternation of Jonas Clover, a jaded Northman with a mysterious past. Meanwhile in Midderland, Savine dan Glokta is determined to carve her way through the ranks of the Union's new barons of industry, with all the cunning and wit she learned at her father's side. But the slums seethe with discontent, encouraged by the mysterious Weaver. When Savine is caught up in an insurrection in Valbeck, all the money in the world won’t save her. She nevertheless finds refuge with Gunnar Broad, a rebel but a good man. Rescue eventually arrives from a most unlikely source; her secret lover Crown Prince Orso, who absolutely everyone considers a silly, foppish, lech of a man. He rides right out to save Savine without pause, and negotiates a peaceful resolution to the insurrection like a true rule, with undeniable help from Vick dan Teufel, an Inquisitor who has infiltrated the rebels. Prince Orso’s moment of glory proves short-lived. First, he’s blamed for executing 200 rebels despite having promised them amnesty, a decision made by the Closed Council. Next, Savine learns the truth about her biological father, and breaks up with him, giving him no explanation and leaving him miserable. And finally, Orso's father King Jezal dies, leaving him stuck with the crown he doesn't want, an event Bayaz seems curiously pleased about. We are left with many questions. Is Bayaz' great rival Khalul truly gone? Who is Weaver fermenting worker unrest in The Union? And what do Rikke’s visions from the Long Eye mean? Perhaps the most intriguing is, “''I saw a wolf eat the sun. Then a lion ate the wolf. Then a lamb ate the lion. Then an owl ate the lamb.” Chapter Summaries Quotes * “''Clean as new snow! Your only stench now shall be of youth and disappointment.” Isern-i-Phail * “''A cynic might observe that the scriptures can be used to support both sides of every argument.” Savine dan Glokta * “''Battles may sometimes be won by the brave, but wars are always won by the clever.” Finree dan Brock * “''If she was to be cast as the villain, so be it. They were always the most interesting characters anyway.” Savine dan Glokta * “''Guilt is a luxury reserved for those still breathing and with no unbearable pain, cold or hunger demanding all their fickle attention. Long as guilt’s your big problem, girl … things can’t be that bad.” Isern-i-Phail * “''It’s a fool who makes folk choose too often between loyalty and good sense.” Jonas Clover * “''When one man knowingly kills another, they call it murder! When society causes the deaths of thousands, they shrug and call it a fact of life.” Superior Risinau * “''I’m the king’s bastard, my father’s not my father, and I’ve been sucking my brother’s cock?” Savine dan Glokta * “Jonas Clover: ''Aye, well, we all play the cards we're dealt. ''Caul Shivers: ''Some of us do. Some of us kill men with better cards and play theirs instead.” * “''He had tried, too little and too late, to make something of himself. The result was two hundred corpses gibbetted on the road to Valbeck and a dismissive note.” Orso dan Luthar * “''This is the North. Who hasn’t killed a friend or two?” Jonas Clover Category:Books